How Many Olympians Are Doping?

Tuesday, July 31, 2012, 2:59 pm

By Scott Douglas

Photo by Victah Sailer

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Rashid Ramzi was stripped of his 2008 Olympic 1500-meter gold medal after being busted for doping.

The quick answer to the question above is: Nobody knows. The slightly longer answer is: Nobody knows, but it can be sadly fun to speculate.Over at The New Yorker's site, Eustace Tilley continues to turn his monocle toward running. In their most recent exchange[4], bestselling author Malcolm Gladwell (a top youth runner as a Canadian teen) and NewYorker.com editor Nicholas Thompson (a 2:42 marathoner) tackle performance-enhancing drugs. Thompson says he thinks nearly all Olympians in the 100 and 200 meters are doping, but that "very few" long-distance runners are. Gladwell, to his credit, admits he doesn't know how performance-enhancing drugs might help distance runners, which is a little surprising. (Perhaps he blinked and missed stories like those of Eddy Hellebuyck[5].)As always with Gladwell and Thompson, it's fun to read their thoughts. Thompson, touching on his own pre-run caffeine habit, mentions a not-insignificant aid that runners might get from drugs--a psychological boost.